indian extremest right wing hindus clashes with minority Muslims

This is an ancient Hindu festival but

this year in Gujarat it was celebrated

by crowds waving swords outside a mosque

as those inside looked on apparently

terrified

one thousand miles away another huge

crowd in another Muslim area as the

police stood by they screamed insults

that had two wishes to broadcast

and in mosques crowds hoisted Hindu

nationalist flags on roofs and minarets

events like this happened all over India

this month leading some to claim the

festival's violence could and should

have been avoided

most of the footage in this report has

swept Indian social media we haven't

been able to verify all of it

but in total it paints a disturbing

picture of a violent fortnight here

take one area cargoes in Madhya Pradesh

central India footage shows anti-Muslimism

songs were played loudly by huge crowds

who were waving swords in a Muslim area

before long stones were exchanged

between the festival-goers and local

Muslims the bjp say this was an

organized attack by a prescribed Islamic

terror group eyewitnesses say that the

Hindu festival goers then went on a

rampage in Muslim areas

this former police officer is Muslim and

lives in cargoes he spoke to via India

and then early the next morning the

local Bjp government sent bulldozers and

police to cargo

they simply tore Muslim houses down the

Bjp state minister said there was no

other choice

critics say the authorities are blaming

victims but ignoring a targeted campaign

by right-wing Hindu figures that took

place before the violence

for example in kargon just hours before

the trouble

a high-profile bjp member told a crowd

to take violent action

a few days earlier a local priest in the

same state whose sermons reached

millions had this prescient advice

similar scenes have played out across

India in the last two weeks

a so-called holy man riled up a Hindu

crowd who had gathered in a Muslim area

as he foreign rape to young men

he had armed police protection

after a public outcry he was eventually

arrested

despite all the violence the prime

minister has not commented

and while he welcomes Boris Johnson
he

knows India

enjoys a crucial

geopolitical role

so while ordinary Muslims may hope

international leaders will raise their

concerns

they fear it is unlikely

well earlier i spoke to the ruling bjp's

vice president jay panda and i began by

asking for his response to the rash of

violence across the country

i haven't seen what you have telecast

just now but i can tell you

that recently there have been attacks on

ram Navami processions

which is uh you know the equivalent of

attacking

people singing Christmas carols out on

the streets

now there have been provocative

statements by people across the spectrum

we don't condone it

those who claim affiliation with the bjp

are just as

they're just as susceptible to action

there are members from other parties

like the congress and the AAM ADMI

party

who are openly provocative who are

openly threatening

uh that

they would take action

against processions now that is just not

on our constitution doesn't allow no-go

zones we are very clear that the bjp

doesn't condone any kind of extremist

action no matter who they're alleged to

be with but we will crack down on

criminal elements who are flouting the

law as the government in charge what are

you actually doing to calm down

what could become incredibly

inflammatory tensions inside India

well the

one important thing is some of these

people who are trying to raise this uh

the scare mongering are deliberately

being provocative they are trying to

spin a false narrative as if there is a

bias against Muslims for instance there

isn't the Bjp is very clear that we are

a constitutional party we believe that

every Indian is equal irrespective of

religion or caste or creed let's move on

to the prime minister's visit our prime

minister's visit to Delhi today

we know what Boris Johnson wants out of

India he wants a special trade

agreement he wants India as part of

Britain's post-brexit global british

role

what does india want from britain in

return

well uh India and the uk have a

historical relationship i think we are

two countries across continents who

understand each other very well and if

you look at trade for instance uh

recently there was a grant Thornton

report which pointed out that there are

as many as 850 Indian companies

operating in the UK it does uh serve

both our interests to have Indian talent

uh operate globally including in the uk

because you have a middle class now

that's you know hundreds of millions

strong a lot of those people want to

travel they want to study in the uk they

want to work in the uk at least for some

of the time

as a result of this visit will it become

easier for those Indians to do that in

Britain

we hope so in fact in recent

interactions that I've had with the

British high commission here and with

others i get a sense that the UK

recognizes the potential

of

a Indian students going back to the uk

in larger numbers

and b

if more trade is to happen between our

two countries there has to be a greater

flow of

people-to-people connect now as you know

prime minister Johnson is widely

heralded by the president of ukraine

Vladimir zelinsky as being one of his

strongest allies one of the greatest

critics of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

will your prime minister Modi join Boris

Johnson by naming and shaming Russia for

what it is doing in this war the Modi

government has been very explicit about

the unfortunate situation in Ukraine we

have made it very clear

that war is not the solution aggression

and hostility is not the solution you're

not criticizing

Russia by name though you're not you're

barely calling it a war and an invasion

there is a great deal of hypocrisy in

other nations uh and as our foreign

minister pointed out last week many

European nations buy more energy from

Russia in an afternoon than we do in a

month and this despite the strong stands

they have taken who are you more afraid.